


Accidental Cuddling

by Rosesdancinginmymind (orphan_account)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, tw: child abuse, tw: torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-13 20:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5715463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Rosesdancinginmymind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma + Regina + Accidental Cuddling. Eventual SQ. TW for references to child abuse and torture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accidental Cuddling

_Emma + Regina + “accidental” cuddling. Oneshot with eventual SQ. I don’t own Once or its characters. Apologies for any mistakes. Hope you all enjoy :)_

_TW for mentions of torture and child abuse._

_NB – this doesn’t quite follow canon in places._

**One**

Emma sighs as she swings her legs back and forth from where she perches on the edge of Regina’s desk. The door to the Mayor’s office is busted and it’s ten o’clock at night which means they’re stuck here not that Regina is ready to admit it. Emma knows she could open the door using her bailbondswoman tricks, well if she had anything other than her phone on her. Sadly, the rest of her stuff is in the Bug which leaves her and Regina trapped here.

Emma lays her head back on the desk as Regina continues to pace furiously across her floor, as if that will somehow make someone magically appear and get them out of here. Emma rolls her eyes as she lifts her head and quips, “You know you can’t poof out of here right?”

Regina narrows her eyes in that glare that Emma has become accustomed too since she came to town two months ago. Secretly she loves their back and forth. Yeah it frustrates her and the brunette winds her up no end but there’s something to be said for the challenge and the way they bounce off one another.

“What?” Regina asks with an irritated huff. She has to pretend to have no knowledge of what Emma is on about. Even if she wasn’t there’s no magic in this land leaving her trapped and if that wasn’t bad enough, trapped with the daughter of her worst enemy.

“You know,” Emma says teasingly, “Using magic like in Henry’s book.”

“Yes Miss Swan, let’s make this situation better by reminding about exactly why my son loathes me so much, thank you.”

Emma winces before sitting up with an apologetic frown, “Hey, I was just joking, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Regina rolls her eyes before sighing, “Intent is meaningless.”

“Or is intent everything?” Emma questions.

“We’re trapped together and you want to discuss philosophy?”

“Not really, I wanna sleep.”

“How can you think about sleep when we’re stuck in this cell?!” Regina asks as she tries to calm her panic. _You will not break down in front of Emma. Forget about your mother. Forget about her vault_. She wills the memories to stop but it’s too late. They’re already replaying in her head. She sighs before resuming her pacing.

“It’s hardly a cell. I think this office is bigger than my apartment.”

“Well not of all of us enjoy tiny cramped hell-holes.”

Emma chuckles, “I think that’s the nicest way you’ve ever described my place.”

“Why are you still talking?”

“Because you clearly need the distraction,” Emma replies seriously. In spite of Regina’s attempts to appear otherwise the Mayor is clearly terrified. Personally she’s fine with small spaces having become used to sleeping wherever she can fit – often in her own car but it’s obvious Regina has a problem with them.

Regina shakes her head frustrated by the way Emma sees right through her, “I’m fine.”

Emma rolls her eyes before moving to the massive couch. She notices Regina watching her and makes a point of removing her boots and jacket before lying down, “Come here,” Emma says.

“I’m your boss, not the other way around,” Regina points out.

“Humour me for a change Regina,” Emma replies, “Besides my shift ended four hours ago so right now you’re not my boss. We’re just two people trapped in a room together.”

“Who happen to loathe one another?”

“I don’t loathe you,” Emma says, “You’re a pain in the ass and we have our moments but if we could get along I’d like that, even if it is just for tonight.”

Regina tilts to her head surprised by the honest admission. She steps closer to the couch where Emma is resting as she asks, “You really don’t hate me?” She’s become so used to the fear and hatred of others that for someone to show her anything else is a slight shock.

Emma shakes her head, “I don’t hate you. I don’t always agree with you but I don’t hate you.”

Regina smiles slightly before she slowly admits, “I don’t always hate you either.”

Emma chuckles, “Well that’s a start…so are you going to lay down?”

Regina sighs. She is exhausted but to sleep trapped she knows will lead to nightmares which will lead to panic and her stomach flips at the very thought of such a thing. She dithers for a few moments before laying down on the very edge of the couch. Even on the edge there is barely any space between them and when Emma rolls over her arms wrap around Regina’s middle.

“Miss Swan,” Regina whispers.

“What?”

“Your arms are on me.”

“Well it’s that or you’re going to fall off of this couch,” Emma points out, “Besides there’s not a lot of moving room.”

Regina sighs again before wriggling until she’s somewhat comfortable. She does her best to fight off sleep before she admits, “I don’t like being trapped. All I’m going to say about it is that my mother was a strict woman.”

“Did she…”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Regina says cutting her off, “I’m just letting you know should I panic in the middle of the night and disturb you.”

Emma nods in understanding, “Okay well if you need me, wake me.”

Regina only nods slightly in response before slowly giving into sleep. As the night draws on the two women become a tangle of limbs, with their legs entwined and Regina winding up on Emma’s chest as they sleep. They won’t speak of this night again for years but for Regina it’s one of the first nights since she cast the curse that she sleeps the whole night through.

**Two**

Her mind is foggy and all she can feel is fear and agony. Regina knows that this is it. She can see it in the menace in Greg’s eyes and the way her body feels the shocks worse and worse with each flick of the switch.

In spite of it all she’s still fighting to remain conscious. Regina barely remembers why she’s clinging on. At the start of all this she was holding onto the hope of being rescued but with each passing second it no longer seems possible. She doubts anyone has even noticed she’s missing let alone started a search party.

No-one cares after all.

To them, she’s blown all of her chances.

When the curse first broke there was hope. She fought alongside Charming to bring Snow and Emma home. She thought that Henry was slowly coming around to her. Then she sucked in the death curse and was cast aside as soon as Emma reappeared leaving her with just the loneliness to cling to once more.

She kept trying though. She did. She tried for Henry and for herself. She was seeing Archie right up until the point her mother came to town and enacted her deception. Regina wills the tears to stay in her eyes as she thinks of Emma’s accusation that day. It hurt her more than she’d like to admit because once again someone she trusted, someone she thought believed in her left her out in the cold.

Since then it’s all been unravelling. It’s been one bad choice after another. She chose to believe in her mother only to lose her. She was growing desperate and she went for the trigger and she knows, she knows deep in her heart that it was the wrong choice. Regina sucks in a ragged breath. If she survives this she will get that trigger back and put things right.

She has to…if she survives.

“Ready to die?” Greg asks with a slight cackle.

Regina stays silent not giving him the satisfaction of an answer. She won’t. She’s concentrating all of her energy on picturing Henry and how she wants to hug him at least one more time and tell him how much she loves him. She wants to apologise for slipping and slipping even further. She wants to try again until she finally gets things right.

She wants to live.

For once, she wants to fight to live and as usual the cruelty of the irony, that this time there’s no-one around to save her isn’t lost on her. She gasps as another bolt of electricity flows through her body and this time she can’t help the scream that tumbles from her lips. The sound makes her throat burn from the hoarseness and her mind is swimming even more.

Regina pictures Henry but the image is growing fuzzier. It’s a battle now to keep her eyes open and it’s just as she feels them slipping shut that she hears a shout of, “Hey!”

“There’s no saving her now,” Greg’s voice taunts but Regina doesn’t hear a response. All she hears are gunshots and then a panicked cry of, “Regina!”

 _Emma_.

They came to save her and that thought has her fighting to open her eyes once more just so she can see it for herself. It’s hard to believe that it could be true and even though it’s agony she manages to open her eyes. She sees more than feels Emma untying her restraints whilst also shooting glances back to Greg on the floor.

He’s not shot but he’s unconscious and Regina will ask those questions later.

“E..Em…Emma,” she croaks out startling the blonde who looks to her.

“Regina?!” she asks, “Just stay with me okay, we need to get you out of here.”

“Trigger,” Regina murmurs, “Get the trigger…save town…”

“What?”

“They took it from me…they’re going to destroy Storybrooke,” she pauses resisting the urge to pass out again as every word feels like swallowing glass, “We need it back.”

Emma frowns, “Why did you have it?”

Regina merely murmurs something about Snow and magic beans that Emma can’t quite understand. She can see how Regina’s struggling even more to stay awake and hurries her efforts to free her. “It’s okay,” Emma replies even though she knows that right now nothing is, “You can tell me later. There’ll be a later,” she promises.

Emma lifts Regina into her arms determined to get her out of here and to safety as quick as possible. Regina lolls closer towards her and if anyone asks later, she is not snuggling into Emma’s arms because of the safety she feels in them, she’s simply clinging to an unexpected rescue.

**Three**

_Just another lost girl._ Pan’s voice taunts her echoing in her ears as she tries to sleep. Every time she shuts her eyes, however all she sees are nightmares. Emma hates this goddamned island and how it makes her feel. She hates that her son is stranded here and that everywhere they turn is another obstacle.

All she wants is to see Henry and know that he’s safe but on this island it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s an illusion. They’ve nearly been caught out before by them and Emma doesn’t want to happen again.

She wants to get Henry and go home and finally figure out a way to co-parent him with Regina. They’ve reached a truce through Neverland and really Regina’s a good partner. Emma’s welcomed her support here on this island. When at every turn she feels weak or like she cannot lead, Regina is there reminding her of her strengths and encouraging her, in her own Regina way that Emma has secretly come to love, to take charge.

At night however all she feels is the loneliness and pain of the past creeping up over her. She can hear the screams and the cries of the lost children trapped on this island and with every agonised sound she’s reminded that she was one of them.

She can only fight exhaustion for so long though and slowly her eyes fall shut.

_She sees a flurry of homes. Lying alone in her bed in the cold and the dark with no bedsheets and no-one to read her a story. Hiding in cupboards whilst the sound of yelling raged on downstairs. Rules, millions of rules far too easy to break._

Emma’s brow creases in terror as she tosses and turns to escape her dreams. Every second her mind conjures up new ways to torture her and she hates it. She dreads sleep so much, what she dreads even more is her mother and father hearing her and their inevitable questions or worse their pity and rejection when they realise she’s far from the perfect little princess they were hoping for.

Tears begin to roll down her cheeks as her mind dreams up images of their disgust and them walking away from her too, the home she’s only just come to find collapsing around her yet all she can do is stand there helpless.

It’s a scene she’s had to watch too many times and she knows the routine. A knock at the door. Silence from the new foster parents until one goes to answer it. A social worker walking in sitting beside her with a sympathetic smile telling her what she already knows – that once again she’s being sent back. The excruciatingly slow walk up the stairs to pack things that as years go by she doesn’t even bother to unpack anymore.

As a teenager she found herself simply running away to avoid the rejection. As an adult she resisted connections moving from place to place through fear that if she laid roots they would still be cut down leaving her heart broken once more.

In Storybrooke though she broke that pattern. She’s set down roots and she wants with all of her heart to make it work. She has friends and family and whatever Regina is – Emma hasn’t quite got around to figuring out exactly where they stand or what she feels but either way Regina is in her life and she’s glad for it.

In the dark of the night in Neverland she doesn’t feel any of that though. She just feels like a lonely little lost girl who cannot keep her family together.

She sniffles into her makeshift pillow before feeling someone lay down beside her. Emma freezes before turning slowly to see Regina. She moves to wipe her face as she asks, “Regina?”

Regina simply looks at her and replies, “I’m cold.”

Emma nods seeing right through the lie but accepting it anyway. They lay there in silence for a few more moments before admitting, “I miss Henry.”

“Me too,” Emma answers, “I hate this island.”

Regina nods understanding exactly why Emma loathes it. Emma hasn’t told her much of her childhood but she doesn’t have to. Regina can see it all in Emma’s eyes. She rolls over slightly until there’s no space between them before “accidentally” placing an arm around Emma’s shoulders as she whispers, “Pan is wrong. You were a lost girl once but you’re not anymore. You’re home with us and when we get Henry back it will feel right and we’ll go back to Storybrooke. You’re not one of his lost children, you’re Emma Swan, don’t let him convince you otherwise.”

Emma sniffs willing more tears not to fall as she replies, “You really believe that?” She shuffles closer to Regina revelling in the comforting touch of the brunette’s arms. Regina nods looking into her eyes as she affirms, “I believe in you.” They fall silent again for a moment though neither one makes a move to move away.

“Regina?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m cold too,” Emma replies. In the morning they’ll spring apart and insist that they were not cuddling but right now they’re two mothers missing their son and running as fast as they can from nightmares and if Regina can offer the excuse and the comfort then Emma can accept it.

**Four**

Emma’s teeth chatter as she walks slowly through the door of her apartment. There are days when she loathes being Sheriff, especially days when she winds up trapped in an ice wall with Elsa. To think, she only streamed Frozen the other day and then bam – there she is in Storybrooke throwing around the ice magic.

Another shiver runs through her as she moves towards her bed desperate for warmth. She knows her parents are hot on her tail. What she doesn’t expect is the swirl of purple smoke revealing Regina who appears sitting primly on the edge of her bed.

Regina reaches out placing a hand on Emma’s forehead in the way Emma imagines she must have done for Henry every time he was sick. Emma closes her eyes leaning into the warm soothing touch before it’s withdrawn. Regina lingers perhaps a little longer than she should before slowly pulling it away with a declaration of, “You’re freezing.”

“No shit Sherlock.”

Regina frowns in confusion and Emma rolls her eyes, “I’ve got to get you into some TV shows that aired after 1983.”

“I watched some shows,” Regina huffs, “There are some that Henry liked to watch, like the one with that weird animated sponge and the snail.”

Emma furrows her brow before asking, “Spongebob Squarepants? At least he had good taste growing up. And that snail, by the way, is called Gary and he’s awesome.”

“You know it’s for children don’t you?” Regina quips back as she reaches into a cupboard pulling out several blankets. She frowns looking at Emma’s skinny jeans and leather jacket before waving her hand and poofing Emma into a thick pair of flannel pyjamas and slipper socks. Emma sighs contently as she wraps her arms around herself, “That’s better,” she murmurs.

“You should really indulge in a thicker coat Emma,” Regina says quietly as she motions for Emma to lay down. Once Emma does so she begins layering the blankets down as Emma looks up at her with a smile, “Calm down Regina, anyone might think you worry about me.”

Regina blushes before looking to Emma, “Maybe I do.”

“Even after…” Emma trails off unsure as to whether or not to bring up Robin or the time travel or Marian.

Regina sighs as she admits what she hasn’t yet admitted to anyone else, “I broke up with Robin.”

“You did?”

Regina nods as she sits on the edge with a slightly sad sigh, “He loves Marian. He says he loves me too but…I’m always going to be his second choice. He told me he was going back to her and to move on then came back to me the next day. It’s confusing and messy and I know why he’s conflicted but…”

“…he’s not exactly making it any easier for you to figure out either?”

Regina shakes her head, “No, I need the space too to work out what I want.”

“Is it Robin?”

Regina sighs, “I want to find happiness with someone. I want to love someone and feel loved by them. I want to feel enough. I want someone I can envision raising Henry with.”

“You didn’t really answer my question,” Emma points out.

Regina looks to her then with an intensity that makes Emma shiver. She holds Regina’s gaze and wonders about what she sees there. There’s a question burning in those eyes, a hope yet conflict, there’s so much that Emma knows if she let herself she could drown. Eventually Regina pulls away before smiling and replying, “Didn’t I? Anyway enough about my ridiculous love life, maybe I’m just fated to be alone.”

Emma frowns sitting up and reaching for Regina’s hand, “You won’t be alone Regina. I promised you a happy ending remember?”

“Easy for you to say,” Regina replies, “You have your boyfriend.”

The word is said with such disdain and a hint of jealousy that Emma wants so badly to question but she can feel the warmth and exhaustion slowly catching up to her so instead she replies simply, “Hook is not my boyfriend.”

“You kissed him.”

“So? We’re not in fifth grade. I gave in but I don’t think I made the right choice there.”

“Oh?”

Emma sighs, “He claims to love me. He says he’s a changed man…but…I just don’t know whether or not I buy it. I don’t want to be with someone I don’t trust. I don’t want to be with someone who I don’t have faith in or who doesn’t have faith in me. I don’t need someone telling me what I can’t do. I need someone like you who encourages me to challenge myself, to reach my best potential and see what I can do.”

She trails off realising what she’s just said. She can see in Regina’s eyes that the brunette realises it too. Regina sucks on her lower lip before looking worriedly at Emma, “You’re tired. I should go.”

Emma frowns. She doesn’t know what to say to Regina or what to do with the realisation they’re slowly stumbling towards. All she does know is that she doesn’t want the brunette to go right now. “Wait…could you stay a bit…I’m still cold and I have Spongebob on my Netflix.”

Regina knows she could just poof away but she doesn’t. Instead she finds no response other than to take off her heels and coat before laying down above the covers next to Emma. She reaches for Emma’s laptop connecting it to her TV before finding the cartoon Henry once adored and setting to play. She leaves the computer at the end of the bed before laying back down.

It’s Emma who pulls her closer mumbling something about body heat and needing warming up that Regina chooses to indulge.

**Five**

Both women hurry through the snow in search of their son. The Shattered Sight curse has been lifted and Regina’s first priority is to find Henry and make sure he stayed safe. Emma, too has run from where Ingrid eventually sacrificed herself in search of her loved ones. She hugs her parents and smiles down at her little baby brother before falling into step beside Regina.

“Where was he during the curse?” Emma asks.

“My office, he had the doors locked and blocked on his side so no-one could get to him,” Regina replies, “He should be safe.”

Emma nods before looking to Regina, “What I said to you during the curse,” she begins feeling slightly guilty for the way she taunted Regina. She needed Regina to hate her and unfortunately with their connection and understanding comes the knowledge of exactly what buttons to push. It may have been necessary at the time but now Emma fears that her words hurt deeper than Regina might want to admit.

Regina shakes her head at Emma. She knows Emma’s motives and despite the way they stung and fuelled the anger within her at the time she knows that Emma didn’t mean those words. Over the past few weeks they’ve grown closer and closer and one of the things she knows she can have faith in, is that Emma would never hurt her if she could avoid it.

What makes her more curious is that in a spell that turns you against the ones you love, when Emma came down her first instinct was to hate and go after her. She gave into the way Emma taunted her and with every second she wanted to stalk across the room and destroy her. The thought now makes her shudder and her heart ache.

“You did what you had to do,” Regina says in response to Emma, “I’m just glad you got away from me in time.”

Emma nods, “Me too though you realise you could probably have used magic and destroyed me in an instant?”

Regina nods paling at the thought before looking to Emma. As much as she hated her under that curse a little voice in her heart was still there, a faint whisper telling her not to give in, not to destroy Emma. At the time she decided it must have been for Henry but now as she looks back she suspects it might also have been for her too.

“Well I’m glad I didn’t think of that,” Regina admits as they continue down the street before she spots someone running towards them, “Henry!”

Both women run up to him engulfing him in a hug, the pair of them going either side of him as the three hug for a few moments. Regina kisses the top of his head as she murmurs reverently, “I love you my little prince, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Henry reassures them both, “Are you?”

Both of his mothers nod as Emma smiles at him, “We’re all okay kid.”

The three hug for several more moments before Henry spots his grandparents coming around the corner. He slips free of the hug to go see them but Emma and Regina fail to break apart. Instead they stumble slightly at his hasty departure and wind up catching one another.

Emma blushes as they hug crouched down and semi-awkwardly before smiling at Regina and saying, “I’m glad you’re okay Regina.”

Regina smiles back, “I’m glad you are too Emma.”

**Six**

Emma yawns slightly as she walks out of the bathroom. Her teeth are brushed, her pyjamas are on and after a ridiculously long day at work she can finally collapse into bed. She used to love it when she was alone and could just flop down and sprawl anyway she wanted to dozing away until late the next morning.

She loves it even more now that she has someone to crawl into bed beside. Emma lifts the sheet up with a flourish grinning as Regina rolls to pout at her, “Emma!”

Emma chuckles, “What? Is it my fault that after two years of dating you’re still a total blanket hog?”

“I am not,” Regina huffs.

“Then why is that every time I leave to go the bathroom I come back to find you all cocooned in them.”

Regina smiles, “Because I like to stay warm and when you’re not with me I’m too cold.”

“Aw,” Emma replies with a soft smile, “Better fix that then,” she adds as she clambers into bed letting the sheets fall back on top of them as Regina rolls with ease to slide into Emma’s waiting arms.

Emma’s grin grows wider as Regina moves to rest her head against Emma’s chest in the way that always does. It’s been two years since they stopped making excuses. No more ‘for Henry’ or ‘we must have fallen asleep during that movie’. No more excuses. No more avoidance.

“What are you grinning about?” Regina asks.

“Just that I don’t need to make up a reason to cuddle with you anymore because I already have the perfect one.”

Regina smiles, “And what’s that?”

“Because I love you.”

Regina’s smile blossoms even brighter as she leans up to kiss her girlfriend lovingly, “I love you too.”

_Thanks for reading :)_


End file.
